Kenneth Kunkel

Kenneth Kunkel

Biography

Dr. Kunkel’s research has focused on historical climate variability and trends and on potential future change, particularly related to extreme events, such as heavy precipitation, heat waves, cold waves, and winter storms. A particular focus has been the historical variations in the frequency and intensity of such extreme events extending from the late 19th Century to the present. An examination of late 19th and early 20th Century variations is important because it establishes the quasi-natural background which provides a context for interpreting recent variations and possible anthropogenic influences. He has investigated the manner in which weather system phenomenology has contributed to observed climate trends.

His work on climate change has involved the diagnostic analysis of regional and global climate model simulations. This has focused on the regional fidelity of model simulations of the climate of the U.S., including such features as the North American monsoon and the lack of 20th Century warming in the central and southeastern U.S.

As Lead Scientist for technical support of the National Climate Assessment, he led the development of a nine-part NOAA Technical Report series published in 2013, to support the development of the Third National Climate Assessment. He was one of the lead authors on the climate science sections of Climate Change Impacts in the United States: The Third National Climate Assessment and was a contributing author on The Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States: A Scientific Assessment.

A recent focus is on the development of methods to incorporate climate change considerations into heavy rainfall design values that are used in the design of long-lived infrastructure. Such infrastructure will likely experience effects due to anthropogenically forced climate changes because of their long lifetimes.

Dr. Kunkel joined NCICS as a Senior Scientist and Science Lead for Assessments, and the Department of Marine, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at NC State University as a Research Professor in September 2010.

Brown, O., and K. E. Kunkel, 2015: State of the Climate Science in Identification of Risks; Presentation and Use of Data from National Climate Center and Affiliates. invited talk, Executive Forum on Business and Climate Workshop: Private Property, Information Disclosure, and the Roles of Insurance and Government,, Chapel, NC, 20 March.

Kunkel, K. E., 2015: Climate Resilience for the Southeast U.S. Asheville chapter of The American Institute of Architects and The Collider, Asheville, NC, 6 November, 2015.

Kunkel, K. E., 2015: A New Look at Precipitation Extremes in the central U.S. Workshop-Implications of a Changing Arctic on Water Resources and Agriculture in the Central U.S., Lincoln, NE, 10 November, 2015.

Kunkel, K. E., 2015: Looking back on NCA3 and forward to NCA4, Town Hall Meeting: Developing Climate Scenarios for the 4 th National Climate Assessment and the Sustained Assessment Process, . Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society, Phoenix, AZ, 6 January 2015.

Kunkel, K. E., 2015: Future Projections of Extreme Climate Conditions from the National Climate Assessment: Implications for Food Security. invited paper, Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, San Jose, CA, 15 February 2015.